Please learn this
Every noun in French takes a gender – it is either masculine or femine.
The – has to accommodate the nouns – so if the noun is masculine you get le
Le garçon
La fille
Les enfants.
Un garçon – a boy
Une fille – a girl
Des enfants – children (in English there is no plural A.
There is in French. Children = A children --- Des enfants.
Mon ordinateur – my computer – the speaker could be male or female
But the computer is masculine so we use the masculine my – MON
Mes filles – even though daughter is feminine – when we say daughters (filles) we must then use the plural my – mes
HIS AND HER are identical in French….
Son ordinateur – His / her computer
Sa fille – His or her daughter
Sa maison – His or her house
Ses parents – his or her parents
This is a huge difference with English.
Sa piscine – his pool her pool.
The last three take practice –
Notre – our for singular items
Nos for plural
Notre classe. Our class
Nos classes. Our classes
Leur – for singular nouns meaning their –
Their book.
Leur livre.
Leur maison
Leur mère.
Leur télé.
Leurs télés.
Du de la des
Belonging to..
PLEASE NOTE MY STINKERS
There is no apostrophe in French to denote possession.
We don’t use an apostrophe in French to mean I own something.
John’s football.
The football belonging to John.
De
De works for people’s names.
\The football belonging to John
Le football DE John.
David’s house.
The house belonging to David.
La maison de David.
Niamh’s pen.
The pen belonging to Niamh.
Le Stylo de Niamh.
It gets just a little more complicated--- but not much.
When you take a name out of the equation – you get a the instead.
John’s ball
The ball belonging to John
The ball belonging to the boy.
Le ballon de le garçon. – !!!!!!! de + le is incorrect – it becomes DU
Sarah’s pen.
The pen belonging to Sarah
The girl’s pen.
The pen belonging to the girl
Le stylo de la fille
DE + LA is fine – no worries on that one.
The children’s ball.
The ball belonging to the children –
Le ballon de + les enfants !!!!!!! de+ les is incorrect it becomes DES
1. De – for names Carol, John etc.
2. Du (de + le) for masculine items
3. DE + LA that’s fine. – it’s for feminine items
4. DE + LES that must change to DES
step one.. change it round in English.
Conor’s friend.
The friend of Conor.
L’ami de Conor. (DE - of)
The boy’s friend.
The friend of the boy.
L’ami DU garçon.
The girl’s friend.
The friend of the girl
L’ami de la fille.
The boys’ friend.
The friend of the boys.
L’ami des garçon.
Ce Cette Ces
This simply means THIS / THESE
Ce garçon – this boy
Cette fille – this girl
Ces filles – these girls.
There is only one exception –
When the noun starts with a vowel or an h
It becomes CET (if it’ masculine)
This man (clearly masculine – but man starts with an H)
CET homme.
This plane. (Masculine )
CET avion. (It starts with a vowel)
The – has to accommodate the nouns – so if the noun is masculine you get le
Le garçon
La fille
Les enfants.
Un garçon – a boy
Une fille – a girl
Des enfants – children (in English there is no plural A.
There is in French. Children = A children --- Des enfants.
Mon ordinateur – my computer – the speaker could be male or female
But the computer is masculine so we use the masculine my – MON
Mes filles – even though daughter is feminine – when we say daughters (filles) we must then use the plural my – mes
HIS AND HER are identical in French….
Son ordinateur – His / her computer
Sa fille – His or her daughter
Sa maison – His or her house
Ses parents – his or her parents
This is a huge difference with English.
Sa piscine – his pool her pool.
The last three take practice –
Notre – our for singular items
Nos for plural
Notre classe. Our class
Nos classes. Our classes
Leur – for singular nouns meaning their –
Their book.
Leur livre.
Leur maison
Leur mère.
Leur télé.
Leurs télés.
Du de la des
Belonging to..
PLEASE NOTE MY STINKERS
There is no apostrophe in French to denote possession.
We don’t use an apostrophe in French to mean I own something.
John’s football.
The football belonging to John.
De
De works for people’s names.
\The football belonging to John
Le football DE John.
David’s house.
The house belonging to David.
La maison de David.
Niamh’s pen.
The pen belonging to Niamh.
Le Stylo de Niamh.
It gets just a little more complicated--- but not much.
When you take a name out of the equation – you get a the instead.
John’s ball
The ball belonging to John
The ball belonging to the boy.
Le ballon de le garçon. – !!!!!!! de + le is incorrect – it becomes DU
Sarah’s pen.
The pen belonging to Sarah
The girl’s pen.
The pen belonging to the girl
Le stylo de la fille
DE + LA is fine – no worries on that one.
The children’s ball.
The ball belonging to the children –
Le ballon de + les enfants !!!!!!! de+ les is incorrect it becomes DES
1. De – for names Carol, John etc.
2. Du (de + le) for masculine items
3. DE + LA that’s fine. – it’s for feminine items
4. DE + LES that must change to DES
step one.. change it round in English.
Conor’s friend.
The friend of Conor.
L’ami de Conor. (DE - of)
The boy’s friend.
The friend of the boy.
L’ami DU garçon.
The girl’s friend.
The friend of the girl
L’ami de la fille.
The boys’ friend.
The friend of the boys.
L’ami des garçon.
Ce Cette Ces
This simply means THIS / THESE
Ce garçon – this boy
Cette fille – this girl
Ces filles – these girls.
There is only one exception –
When the noun starts with a vowel or an h
It becomes CET (if it’ masculine)
This man (clearly masculine – but man starts with an H)
CET homme.
This plane. (Masculine )
CET avion. (It starts with a vowel)